Being Bill's Daughter

Her parents are unimaginably wealthy yet somehow Jennifer Gates has managed to stay grounded

- Joy Mphande

THE day she came into the world, her future lay before her like a glittering jewel. Back in 1996 Jennifer Gates’ dad, Bill, was the planet’s richest man, then worth $12,9 billion (then R59bn).

Talk about being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

But today, Jennifer (24), with her glossy mane of chestnut hair and all-American girl-next-door looks, is far from a pampered prima donna. She has a sensible head on her shoulders.

And she’s also inherited her parents’ drive to make a difference in the world.

“I was born into a huge situation of privilege,” she told equestrian magazine Sidelines in a recent interview that offered insight into the lives of the Gates kids.

“I think it’s about using those opportunities and learning from them to find things I’m passionate about, and hopefully make the world a little bit of a better place,” she added.

And she’s planning to do that through her chosen career. Jennifer, now a student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, hopes to become either a pediatrician or a GP, dedicating herself to the wellbeing of others.

Still, she’s the daughter of the Microsoft founder and that does come with its material perks. According to the New York Post, her dad and mom, Melinda, bought their eldest a $5 million (R85m) pad on Manhattan’s swanky Fifth Avenue so she could be near campus.

Even so, she admits to being overwhelmed by student life at first. “The first week of medical school I was so stunned by the amount of content we had that I kind of forgot about my self-care, which has become really important to me,” she says.